1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a network control verification system, a control communication terminal, a server apparatus, and a network control verification method for effecting remote control over electronic devices installed illustratively in the household via a communication network such as the Internet.
2. Background Art
There already exist unattended recording reservation apparatuses and program recording result display-apparatuses (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-350142, pp. 2-3, FIG. 1) whereby reservations for unattended TV program recording are received from a remotely-located terminal PC through a telephone line and whereby a table of recorded programs according to the reservations is displayed on the terminal PC.
There are other related arrangements designed to receive program guide information from a TV program information providing company over the Internet, to record the received information by a video tape recorder, and to display a table of what was recorded (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 10-164487, pp. 5-6); to provide broadcast programs recorded by an external server to a user terminal via the Internet (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-84483, pp. 7-8); or to use a remote controller to set and modify unattended recording reservations on a video tape recorder through the Internet (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-8276, pp. 5-6).
Furthermore, there have been proposals which allow an Internet-ready portable data terminal to execute remote control over starting, stopping and reserving the unattended recording of broadcast programs onto a hard disc drive while having recording status (i.e., recording being underway or stopped, recording reservations being set or absent, and details of recording reservations) displayed on a mobile phone (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-57686, pp. 6-9).
As outlined above, diverse remote control systems have been proposed, each allowing the user away from home to operate a portable communication terminal such as a mobile phone in order to remotely control a VTR, an air conditioner, or other electronic or electronic devices in the user's household by way of a public switched network and/or the Internet. Many of these systems, however, are confronted with such inherent problems as wasteful power dissipation, complicated system configurations, and high costs involved.
In many cases, electronic appliances subject to remote control must be powered continuously so as to be started up promptly as instructed. The system often needs to be extensive in scale using various devices for rapid and accurate remote control purposes.
Some solutions to the problems above have been proposed. One such solution, disclosed illustratively in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-078047, involves a simply-structured, inexpensively-configured remote control system for remotely controlling household electronic devices targeted for control without wasteful power dissipation.
The need to resolve the above-mentioned problems of power dissipation and extensive system configuration has entailed users' requirements further regarding the remote control system. Specifically, it is desired that household electronic devices such as VTR's be remotely operated more rapidly and accurately than before. Users of portable communication terminals are also desirous of verifying, away from home, whether any electronic device set for remote control is correctly operating in real time.
With today's widespread use of mobile phones and PDA's (personal digital assistants) having communication capabilities, a need has been recognized for a system which remotely controls electronic devices such as the VTR using such portable communication terminals and which allows the user to verify remotely whether the devices targeted for control are correctly operating.